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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009

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Matt Taibbi

Palin: Our First WWE Politician

Pick an asshole, any asshole, and she'll rock the house

9 hours, 32 minutes ago
the big plan

Beck Will Host Conventions
to Educate America

He's shifting toward political organizer, plans big DC rally

Nov 21, 09 5:06 PM CST
Senate Democrats Clear
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Nov 21, 09 7:13 PM CST
analysis

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Palin Pulls in Big Bucks
—for Democrats

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who let the paranoids out?

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Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert panders to dangerous paranoids

Nov 21, 09 9:08 AM CST
NO COMMUNION FOR YOU, MY SON

RI Bishop Disses
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Spat over Patrick's position on abortion escalates

11 hours, 53 minutes ago
editorial

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Is Bull

Editorial board schools Goldman CEO in true meaning of 'sorry'

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TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

McConnell:
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at 2010 Peril

Senators hit the Sunday talk shows after health vote

9 hours, 1 minute ago
HE'S GOT A BOOK OUT, TOO

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Nov 20, 09 8:07 PM CST
Eyes on 2010

Lincoln
Swings to
Center of
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Dems come calling as GOP eyes her seat in 2010

7 hours, 13 minutes ago
Reid Gets 60th Vote:
Holdout Lincoln Agrees

She'll allow health care bill to move forward; vote at 8pm

Nov 21, 09 1:51 PM CST

|NEXT STORY »

OPINION

Enough Already: Kennedy Was No Hero

By Drew Nelles| Posted Aug 27, 09 11:56 AM CDT|

(Newser) – You wouldn’t know it from the tearful plaudits in the "echo chamber of the mainstream media," but Ted Kennedy was no hero, Howie Carr writes for the Boston Herald. Kennedy was actually a ruthless partisan—he accused Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork of wanting "segregated lunch counters”—and lived a sheltered life disconnected from the working class he supposedly championed.

“We all agree that Ted Kennedy should rest in peace,” Carr writes. “But let’s not forget that there was more, much more, to his ‘legacy.’” His wrist-slap after Chappaquiddick didn’t stop Kennedy from hypocritically denouncing President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. And the hypocrisy continued right up until his death: he backed a law that would see his Senate seat filled by a Democrat, one he had condemned when it might have been filled by a Republican.

In this June 11, 2002 picture, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. speaks in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss hate crime legislation. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)

The Chappaquiddick Bridge, Aug 1973. (©Ed Yourdon)

Front pages of Boston newspapers highlight the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 in Boston. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

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59 comments

VIEWING:

Timinator2K
Aug 27, 09 11:57 AM CDT

Wasn't much of an underwater rescuer, either. Reply

-12

IN RESPONSE:

BoZo
Aug 27, 09 12:33 PM CDT

LMAO! oh man... too soon?

-8

IN RESPONSE:

doingtherightthing
Aug 27, 09 6:33 PM CDT

Kennedy the jerk is gone, so what, who cares........the murderer of Chapaquiddick, he cheated on tests and he lied to everyone........

-6

| 0 minutes ago

tran_tor
Aug 27, 09 11:59 AM CDT

Kennedy was a politician, which pretty much sums it up for me. : ) Reply

| 0 minutes ago

TheSniperZero
Aug 27, 09 12:05 PM CDT

Same could be said for Obama. Reply

-14

IN RESPONSE:

BoZo
Aug 27, 09 12:34 PM CDT

Except obama yomama never murdered anyone... That we know of! -dun-dun- dun-

-15

IN RESPONSE:

Cat-Lover
Aug 27, 09 3:38 PM CDT

At least he wasn't a FOX News commentator. Yuuukkkkkk.

IN RESPONSE:

Reader60610265
Aug 27, 09 4:25 PM CDT

Snappy come back cat lover . I'd expect that from a stooge .Thought you were better.

-5

| 0 minutes ago

schmidtkoff
Aug 27, 09 12:08 PM CDT

they can't wait until the man is in the ground to sling poisonous arrows? this is not the time. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Toon
Aug 27, 09 12:10 PM CDT

Howie Carr, the Boston Herold and Newser demonstrate how little class they have. Reply

-2

IN RESPONSE:

SalParadise
Aug 27, 09 12:35 PM CDT

Newser is the only one I disagree with in that list. Relaying news from both sides of the table is a very good thing.

| 0 minutes ago

Forderon
Aug 27, 09 12:11 PM CDT

Voting age lowered to 18, OSHA, CHIP, ADA, COBA, peace in Ireland, Freedom of Information Act, and much more. Ted Kennedy was directly responsible or had a huge hand in all of these things that you take for granted. Reply

+10

IN RESPONSE:

Forderon
Aug 27, 09 12:11 PM CDT

COBRA*, not COBA

IN RESPONSE:

Forderon
Aug 27, 09 12:16 PM CDT

He also opposed both Gulf Wars, Vietnam, leading voice in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, fought for sanctions against apartheid in South Africa, helped create Medicare prescription drug benefit, Meels on Wheels, raising minimum wages, and bilingual education in schools.

+13

IN RESPONSE:

Forderon
Aug 27, 09 12:22 PM CDT

Yes yes, keep voting down my comments. Ideology before truth!

IN RESPONSE:

Reader65069154
Aug 27, 09 12:28 PM CDT

Call a spade a spade. If his last name weren't Kennedy, he would probably have been behind bars during the time when he was single handedly performing all of these things you cite.

-6

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Aug 27, 09 12:42 PM CDT

If you follow your logic correctly, Teddy wouldn't even be at that event.

| 0 minutes ago

Caps
Aug 27, 09 12:13 PM CDT

Oh how soon the right wing nuts forget, Forderon. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Doctor_Zaius
Aug 27, 09 12:15 PM CDT

Here's a clue for you, when launching charges of being a partisan hack against a dead man, it's usually a good idea to not be a partisan hack yourself. Reply

+12

IN RESPONSE:

Rob
Aug 27, 09 1:05 PM CDT

But, zaius, you are the quintessential partisan hack and it's so funny to hear you suddenly cry foul. lol

-4

IN RESPONSE:

Doctor_Zaius
Aug 27, 09 1:14 PM CDT

....yawn....

-3

IN RESPONSE:

sully4411
Aug 27, 09 8:10 PM CDT

lol! what a circular conversation that almost erupted!

| 0 minutes ago

Sacrifice
Aug 27, 09 12:28 PM CDT

I view no bureaucrat as a hero. If the government is a 'necessary' evil, then bureaucrats are nothing more than 'necessary' villains. Reply

-3

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Aug 27, 09 12:46 PM CDT

Take some time to apply that to the military and your local fire department, unless of course you support private military and fire departments. And all other public servants and services.

-1

IN RESPONSE:

AnnieChrist
Aug 27, 09 1:07 PM CDT

Personally, I'm thankful for such villians as Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and the Kennedy's. If you view the government as evil, then don't use the evil post office for your mail, don't drive on the evil interstates, or visit the evil public parks, or drink the evil water from your local municipality, or be educated in those evil public schools. I would rather read the rants of 100 tea baggers, who are at least engaging their government, than see even one comment as dumb as this from some pseudo-libertarian, ann randian who couldn't survive a week in the type of society they espouse.

IN RESPONSE:

Rocket448
Aug 27, 09 1:40 PM CDT

A Senator is no more a bureaucrat than I am. A Senator is an elected representative of the people.

-1

| 0 minutes ago

newsrmandan
Aug 27, 09 12:28 PM CDT

Calling Ted hypocritical does not apply here. The term is only reserved for those who do something wrong while claiming to be a conservative. Ted is a liberal Saint, what with two wives, life of drunkeness, womanizing, and manslaughter, who else could fit that bill better than him? No conservative even comes close, even that Argentine loving gov has a long way to go to catch up with Teddy. Reply

-9

IN RESPONSE:

AnnieChrist
Aug 27, 09 1:20 PM CDT

I'll take my hard drinking, fun loving, womanizing liberals, who devote their life to improving the human condition, over that of men's room trolling Mark Foley and Larry Craig, or whore-mongering David Vitter, or serial adultering Ensign, McCain, Gingrich, et al. whose 'public service' is nothing more than a route to private riches through their subserviance to the rich.

IN RESPONSE:

Reader60610265
Aug 27, 09 4:33 PM CDT

So McCain was sucking up to Kennedy He was rich ,nose high in the air . To bad all his daddies money came from bootlegging and other not so legal means . No wonder he thought he was above the law.

-3

| 0 minutes ago

MsMsBurning
Aug 27, 09 12:42 PM CDT

Since none of us was there at Chappaquidick, we really don't know what went on, do we? Yes, Ted did not do the right thing and if the same thing happened today he'd probably be in jail. WTF, I always hated him for trying to split the Democratic Party in that critical year of 1980 and pretty much guaranteed that Ronnie Raygun (yes I spelled it that way) waltzed into the Presidency. That being said, the fact that he always stepped up to the plate in the Senate and championed the cause of the oppressed here around the world is, in my opinion, the reason he should be remembered fondly. Reply

+10

IN RESPONSE:

Doctor_Zaius
Aug 27, 09 12:50 PM CDT

Well said.

IN RESPONSE:

Rob
Aug 27, 09 1:06 PM CDT

BS It is public record.

-7

IN RESPONSE:

JonmarkP
Aug 27, 09 1:17 PM CDT

Ronnie Raygun won the 1980 election because George HW Bush negotiated to provide illegal weapons to Iran in exchange for keeping the US hostages prisoner until after the election. Until Bush and Cheney facilitated the 9/11 deaths, It was the greatest act of treason in American history.

+12

| 0 minutes ago

Sacrifice
Aug 27, 09 1:16 PM CDT

'If you view the government as evil, then don't use the evil post office for your mail, don't drive on the evil interstates, or visit the evil public parks, or drink the evil water from your local municipality, or be educated in those evil public schools.' It's not like I have, you know, a choice in some of those services. You know, 'choice' the buzzword that you statists like to throw around to shut down opposition. Too bad for the government, all of the services you listed could be replaced with private methods and would be more efficient. Oh no, please don't send your children to that government daycare prison known as a public school. Whatever should I do? Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Forderon
Aug 27, 09 1:28 PM CDT

Except all those private options would be run by, or eventually run by, corporations with a profit motive. Did you learn nothing from Wall St. systematically turning the entire financial system into an elaborate gambling scheme?

IN RESPONSE:

Sacrifice
Aug 27, 09 1:48 PM CDT

Yea, I did. I learned that it doesn't matter what big corporations do because if the government sees you as 'too big to fail', you'll get away with it and free taxpayer money!

| 0 minutes ago

Sacrifice
Aug 27, 09 1:23 PM CDT

Uh, Fondue, what makes you think I don't apply the same reasoning to the military. Servicemen are not heroes. They are pawns for bureaucrats and die for worthless causes. And yea, fire protection could of course be privitized. Reply

-4

IN RESPONSE:

dax
Aug 27, 09 1:39 PM CDT

If privatized "fire protection" resembled the depiction in "Gangs of New York", your goose would be cooked.

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Aug 27, 09 5:36 PM CDT

With a private fire department could I get my money back if I didn't like the service? Your statement about the military says enough about the type of person you are. Is every military action worthless? Can you imagine the US if the military was privatized in the 1700's? Or even later, say around the 1940's? If enough money and power were offered by The Axis Powers we would be a German territory. And what "choice" do you have when if comes to public utilities like your tap, toilet and shower water? I guess it's not entirely impossible to shit in public restrooms your whole life. But what of the others? Yes, there are options with education, but you are still paying for the public system with your taxes. But you are probably in favor of a nation where only the wealthy and "well-to-do" get any education and the rest can slave away in your factories for nothing more than food, shelter and clothing. So much for "Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" in your version of the USA. At least we would have Life. Please explain how well a privatized interstate system as well as city, suburban and rural roadways would be excepted? How would it work? A toll at every intersection? Will there be a choice for which street I live on? Let's say I like the location and neighbors, but think the street name sucks. Can I switch to company B with the street name I like? Private police departments? Look up "Private Police Force Fry and Laurie" for a humorous take. You might want to look into the FDIC and see well their service would work privatized. I guess at some point in time your intelligence was Sacrificed.

IN RESPONSE:

Caps
Aug 28, 09 7:40 AM CDT

Sacrifice, how can you say servicemen are not heroes? They've kept your ass safe. However, I do agree in Bush's war they have died for a worthless cause.

| 0 minutes ago

AnnieChrist
Aug 27, 09 1:37 PM CDT

"services you listed could be replaced with private methods and would be more efficient." Yeah, send your mail via UPS and see how much you 'save,' let a private company tell you they won't put out the fire in your living room, because you subscribed to a competitor's service, dig you own well and see how much you 'save.' And of course home school your children so we can have another generation of small minded, anti-government, anti-science, anti-progress, dullards such as yourself. You do have a choice, contrary to what you claim, you can move to outer Alaska, remote areas of the West, or any number of places to live out your libertarian wet dream. Thousands of hippies did it quite successfully 20-30 years ago. But you just like to talk the talk, actually doing something might prove a hardship for you, so you sit here bad mouthing government, while taking full advantage of all it's benefits. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

Sacrifice
Aug 27, 09 1:46 PM CDT

Whoa now. Being anti-government, especially anti-bureacrat, does not make me anti-science. I'm pro-science. I love science. And the choice you're offering is no real choice at all. It's like telling a broad she can't have an abortion because she shoulda kept her legs closed. Besides, I'm not a hippie, I own my own property.

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Aug 27, 09 6:28 PM CDT

A broad?

| 0 minutes ago

Thinker
Aug 27, 09 1:49 PM CDT

Kennedy did criticize Bork: [from American Prospect] "The fact is, Bork believed only "political" speech was protected by the First Amendment; he, like many other conservatives, didn't believe that women have the right to make choices about whether to carry pregnancies to term; he was critical of the idea that illegally obtained evidence shouldn't be used in court; and while nominally agreeing that the 14th Amendment prohibited racial discrimination -- as opposed to discrimination based on gender, which he thought it didn't -- in practice, he opposed every single piece of legislation ever passed in order to guarantee the civil rights of African Americans." Kennedy was a hero. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

sache
Aug 27, 09 2:02 PM CDT

Way to go Howie. Real class. Ted Kennedy, with all of his fault, has done more for the less fortunate and was probably a better man than Howie Carr could hope to be. He went after Howie's right wings friends so the first thing that comes to mind when Kennedy dies is for good old Howie to trash the man. Good old Howie, a real ass wipe . Reply

| 0 minutes ago

clark
Aug 27, 09 2:10 PM CDT

I completely disagree. He was not at all perfect, but he was definitely a hero. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

dontlikeyou
Aug 27, 09 2:13 PM CDT

The word "HERO" has been diluted. This generation considers anyone they like or admire a "hero". This new, liberal definition of heroics sure diminishes true heroism.

-3

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Aug 27, 09 6:30 PM CDT

Kinda like how MrsK thinks Beck is a hero.

| 0 minutes ago

dontlikeyou
Aug 27, 09 2:12 PM CDT

////// Enough Already: Kennedy Was No Hero ////// ----- Exactly. He was troubled man who lived off of the fame of his great brothers, John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. He was the least of the 3 by far. Reply

-2

IN RESPONSE:

Reader60610265
Aug 27, 09 4:43 PM CDT

I agreed with you right up to the point you said his brothers were great.Horse feathers They wouldn't have ended up any better than Ted except some knothead shot them and made them martyrs.

| 0 minutes ago

foodchain11
Aug 27, 09 2:32 PM CDT

At least he kept his bipartisanship behind closed doors. He didn't use public airwaves and $$ to deliver lies to frighten old people! He didn't encourage people to bring guns to town hall meetings. He didn't hail the killing of a doctor (abortion is private and lawful-killing doctors is not). He did not encourage vigilante law nor mob rule. He was no lGeorge Wallace, no Strom Thurmond, ETC., ETC. And I hear Joe SWcarborough had a dead secretary in his office,she fell down all by herself, ooops and he resigned and divorced. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

MsMsBurning
Aug 27, 09 2:47 PM CDT

JohnmarkP, Yes I KNOW THAT! My point was that the split in the Democratic Party let Ronnie, Bush, et al, get away with that crap! Reply

-1

| 0 minutes ago

msvoboda64
Aug 27, 09 4:04 PM CDT

Just like when reagan died, the party in power way overestimates their talking heads. History truly is written by the winners. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

DarkFrancis
Aug 27, 09 4:30 PM CDT

If people are happy to define a human life by one act, then they are singularly ignorant, blinkered, shallow, thoughtless, brainless, snide, objectionable little toads. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

pinky
Aug 28, 09 2:43 AM CDT

why r we fighting over a dead guy? Reply

| 0 minutes ago

bellarutheva
Aug 28, 09 3:55 AM CDT

As long as America doesn't lose her basic freedoms and all people are treated equally, I don't care what party runs the government, but unfortunately it cannot happen as every person judges from his or her life's lessons and thinks accordingly. Vote for basic freedoms to prevail and think of what might happen if we lose them. These are times for various decisions and they better be the right ones, or one day you will wake up without all the freedom and privacy you took for granted. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

professortech
Aug 28, 09 5:09 AM CDT

Ted Kennedy was like many individuals who accomplish much in this world he was human, he was complex and he was not without fault and personal foibles. The redeeming aspect of his life, as with all of us, is that we have the ability to rise above those things to accomplish good. No one can truthfully say that he did not show compassion to many and had a major positive impact on many individual lives and the nation as a whole. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

KathyRay
Aug 29, 09 3:55 AM CDT

I'm so sick of Funerals taking over the TV... We just had Jackson.. Kennedy was a BIG BLOWHeart Reply

| 0 minutes ago

jimw428
Sep 5, 09 7:25 PM CDT

Teddy and OJ, two peas in a pod. I hope that fat slimy SOB is burning in hell and Mary Jo is pouring fuel on the fire! Reply

| 0 minutes ago

View all 59 comments »

Ted Kennedy • Robert Bork • Richard Nixon • partisanship • Senate confirmation hearings • hypocrisy • Gerald Ford • Chappaquiddick • US Supreme Court • senator

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Enough Already: Kennedy Was No Hero

Media Airbrush
Did Kennedy
No Favors:
Hitchens

Camelot replay overshadowed real accomplishments, redemption

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media • Christopher Hitchens • Ted Kennedy • death • Chappaquiddick • Kennedy family • legacy • senator • US Senate • JFK • Edward Kennedy

Three Speeches
That Define
Ted Kennedy

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Ted Was the Greatest Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy • Ted Kennedy • Chappaquiddick • political dynasty • Robert F. Kennedy • senator • appreciation • Kennedy

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Enough Already: Kennedy Was No Hero

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OPINION

Media Airbrush Did Kennedy No Favors: Hitchens

Camelot replay overshadowed real accomplishments, redemption

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Three Speeches That Define Ted Kennedy

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Did Kennedy
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Three Speeches
That Define
Ted Kennedy

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Senate • Ted Kennedy • obituary • Robert Bork • Massachusetts • death • speech • US Supreme Court • Robert F. Kennedy • senator • Robert Kennedy

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